Han Bei didn't rush out of the formation, he didn't shout, he didn't even move. As the thin bastard and his lackeys surrounded the formation Han Bei simply extended his spirit sense and observed. One of the men outside the formation asked, " Boss, you think this the place? " A high-pitched voice answered, " No this obviously it's just a patch of random ass mist, that just happened to be stuck around the place where our prey was last sighted. What do you think you dumbass? Heaven knows what the fuck it is, so don't touch it."
Han Bei sensed them as they skulked around in an attempt to find some weak spot in the formation. Silently he approached the grey tree in the middle of the formation. His muscles tensed as his fingers sank into the dry bark. Ancient roots snapped like twigs as he lifted up the tree with the dead beast still attached to it. One of the voices outside called out, " Wait did you hear that? "
The large tree sailed through the air and landed with a heavy THUMP. Han Bei nodded in satisfaction as he heard cries of sudden shock and anguish. Amidst thousand curses upon his name, he confidently left the formation and was surprised to see that he managed to flatten the thin bastard's mount and one of his subordinates. It was a small, perhaps even petty, victory but a victory nonetheless.
Bo Fei"s lackeys, at least the 4 that were still alive, quickly turned to threats. " We'll send you to the yellow springs, you freak. " " You're courting death, corpse. " " Let's see how you survive after I dismember you and feed your remains to the dogs. " " The 9 generations of your bloodline will inherit the suffering you will feel once we're done with you. "
Han Bei gave the appetizers a single disdainful look before his gaze turned to the main meal. The one that truly deserved his attention and scorn. Bo Fei jumped on the gray tree and looked down at the green cow that used to be his mount and the man that used to be his subordinate. " That's some greeting, " Bo Fei said with the unpleasant eyes of a hungry vulture. Han Bei shrugged, " I thought it was nice as far as Myrisian greetings go, at least that's the type of greeting I got the last time I met you. " Bo Fei snarled, " The last time I met you, I also thought you your place. " Han Bei confidently declared, " Times change and heroes rise while the unworthy are crushed underneath the power of their betters. " Bo Fei unfurled his bone whip and signaled for his subordinates to step back. " Talk is cheap, prove your worth, corpse! " Han Bei's cloak shrunk as dark power curled around him and he got into a fighting stance. " It's what I wanted from the very beginning. "
Bo Fei readied his bone whip. "We'll see if you can deal with what you want. " A white flash tore through the air, aimed straight at Han Bei. Corpse deflected the attack with the back of his hand and the weapon recoiled like an injured beast, it crashed into the ground and gouged out a curved line of earth. Han Bei sensed that the back of his hand was bare of flesh, yet he still remained confident. " We'll see indeed " Dark power gathered around him and 2 ghosts appeared beside him [ yin soldiers].
With the sound of a thunder strike, Han Bei received another attack that cut through his flesh, but his phantoms still broke into a mad rush at their prey guided by the rage of their master. Bo Fei recalled his weapon and lashed out with a single wide horizontal sweep that severed rock, metal, and wood alike. The yin soldiers were cut apart as well but reformed moments later, their bodies a bit more transparent. Surprised, Bo Fei received the attack and howled in pain as ghost qi ravaged his body.
Han Bei didn't hesitate and the ground shrunk underneath him as he rushed forward [ghost leap]. He was upon Bo Fei moments later and power coursed through his body as he readied a mighty strike. Han Bei roared as the strike landed and bones crunched. Bo Fei was knocked back several meters, but the damage he received wasn't as great as Han Bei expected. At the last possible moment, the bone whip twisted around Bo Fei's arm and turned into a makeshift shield.
"Good, good, you're still alive, " Han Bei looked down upon his opponent. " It would be such a shame for this to end early when you still have so much blood to shed. " Bo Fei's answer was no less domineering, " Talk your nonsense while you still can I'll rip out your tongue after this anyway. " Han Bei sneered and 3 ghosts manifested before him [yin soldiers].
Bo Fei cursed but this time he was ready His weapon blurred and he quickly launched a storm of quick attacks in front of him that shredded anything that dared to near him. Despite the iron will that controlled the ghosts they were cut into pieces faster than they could reform and they quickly dissipated.
Unconcerned Han Bei released another barrage of ghosts while Bo Fei mocked him, " It's not gonna work again you fool. " He released another storm of slashes and destroyed the ghosts yet his eyes widened in shock at what came after them. As if possessed Han Bei rushed through the storm of attacks while only guarding his head.
Han Bei internally chanted, " Embrace the change, fight with unmatched savagery. Endure, endure, endure," as his body received 100 different cuts and turned into a picture of white and red as his pale skin was streaked with lines of crimson blood that refused to leave his body. Nothing slowed Han Bei and the members of the skeleton manor watched in horror as the dull little corpse they found a few weeks ago had turned into a monster.
For the second time that day, Bo Fei sailed through the air as Han Bei landed a qi enhanced kick to his gut. The thin man land on his knees and his throat filled with hot blood that he failed to contain. He faced Han Bei with a blood-stained smile, " Look at you, you stupid monster you don't even bleed, I wondered if you can even get hard. " Han Bei scowled with the face of an angry deity. " Are you finished? You're becoming pathetic. "
" Am I finished? " Bo Fei laughed and delicious madness seeped into his voice as he rose from the ground. " Once your body is broken and even filling your lungs with rancid corpse air is a task beyond you, when your spirit has forgotten anything except pain and suffering, then and only then I'm going to be finished. " He swung his bone whip around and it wrapped around a nearby boulder.
With awful snarls of unlife ghost manifested around Han Bei as he spoke with a cold voice, " You're dreaming a bit too soon vulture, give me a few moments and I will lay you to rest. " 3 vicious yin soldiers rushed forward and left behind streaks of undead power as they headed straight for Bo Fei. The surroundings shook as Bo Fei channeled qi through his whip into a human-sized boulder and ripped it away from the tight grip of the ground. With great joy clear to all Bo Fei swung his makeshift wrecking ball and scattered the ghosts with contemptuous ease. Amidst mad laughter, the weapon headed for Han Bei
The previously rampaging Corpse had no time to be shocked, on reflex Han Bei pulled up his arms and managed to guard. The blow shook him as he found himself on his back with his arm shattered. Bo Fei allowed him only a single moment to be shocked as amidst the cheers of dirty cutthroats came the next blow.
"Endure, endure, endure, " Han Bei chanted to himself again as if that thought alone was the most important in the world. The boulder smashed into him. With unmatched fury Bo Fei attacked, again and again, the ground trembled and nearby wreckage shuddered while web-like cracks spread throughout the surroundings. Bo Fei's underlings lost in the awe of their master lost their balance as the final blow finally came and buried the corpse under the ground.
Bo Fei's whip uncoiled from the boulder and the thin man neared the site of his victory. The boulder was half-buried and as he thought of his foe underground Bo Fei laughed, " Finally you are where you belong. " Yet that laughter died a second later. Malicious ghost qi slipped through the thin cracks in the ground and Bo Fei was paralyzed, just for a moment, as Han Bei's ghostly power invaded his body.
An arm emerged from the broken ground. Pale and decorated with crooked red lines of jagged flesh it clasped Bo Fei's leg. [Death grip] Flesh tore as easily as silk and bones broke like grass under Han Bei's hold. Bo Fei's features twisted in pain as Corpse emerged from the underworld, bent but unbroken, his left arm quite literally bent backward, broken and unusable but a single arm was still enough to hold the thin man in his grasp like a ragdoll. As dirt rained around him he confidently declared, " I ENDURED! " Han Bei's bloodthirsty eyes turned to the vulture in his grasp, " And you will not. " Bo Fei managed a single utterance of bastard before his back collided with the warm ground.
It had been a while since Han Bei felt death's cold breath upon his neck and the last barrage of attacks was an unwelcome reminder that messed with his mind. " If that whoreson had attacked me for any longer.." but outwardly his face was a mask of cold rage. Deadpan to the eyes of most but an occasional twitch of an eye gave away the anger that bubbled just underneath. Anger that Han Bei mercilessly unleashed upon Bo Fei.
Unlike Han Bei, Bo Fei had no trouble bleeding and Han Bei made sure that he bled. He slammed the thin man against the ground like an angry giant, and each time he was rewarded with the sound of snapped bones and the wet impact of flesh hitting the ground. Quickly enough, each bone in Bo Fei's body was broken and he choked on a mix of his own bile and blood.
" It's time to end this, " Han Bei thought as his fury reached its peak and he tossed the broken meatsack into the air for the grand finale. Qi gathered around his fist, as much as he could muster, as much as he could control. The skin on his arm turned darker and became a shade of grey surrounded by eerie ghost light. The rampaging corpse felt his bones crack as he contained the qi within his fist and looked at the broken Bo Fei that finally descended. With 1 final roar of anger, Han Bei swung his arm for the savage attack [death strike]. Flesh collided with flesh. Bo Fei's midsection burst apart in a flash of ghost green that suppressed the red of blood and guts.
Han Bei breathed out fire from his lungs as his body was still wracked with tension. He observed that the lower body of his foe laid separate from its upper half, yet he still sensed that fire of life still burned inside Bo Fei if only barely. " Tenacious bastard, " unaware of the irony of his words Han Bei straightened his broken arm. He flexed his fingers as the broken limb reformed into something functional.
Ready for 1 final ambush Han Bei approached Bo Fei, but his worries turned unwarranted as the thin man was barely conscious, barely alive. Bo Fei, or what was left of him, coughed up blood but Han Bei saw no fear in his eyes. " Congratulations, corpse. You get to live another day, " said the broken man. " Prize as fine as any treasure, " Han Bei answered calmy, he felt leftover qi from his attack still ravaged Bo Fei's body. He had won, the thin bastard was already dead. " True in most cases, " Bo Fei conceded. " But what about your life? A hunted and broken thing thrown away like everything else in these cursed plains. " Han Bei kept silent as he felt qi build up inside Bo Fei's head. He saw no point to listen or talk to a dead man, but regardless the vulture continued, " My only regret is that I won't get to see you squirm under the lord of bones grasp, as he flays you and takes your skull. " Han Bei gave him a hateful glare, as Bo Fei gave one final laugh, " You're already dead you stupid fucking corpse! " Ghost light shone through Bo Fei's skin and his head burst apart like an overripe grape.
Han Bei growled as he kicked away Bo Fei's severed tongue that had landed on his boot. " Can't even die properly, you stupid bastard. " The expected sense of triumph didn't come after the battle, instead he felt frustration. " This was no clash of arts. No purity, no purpose. " He spat at the body of the 1 that forced him to fight such a pointless battle. " Even worse is that the fool that died for the pursuit of others. " Han Bei's eyes rested on the dead body for a bit too long and his mouth filled with saliva. He was injured, he was hungry, and he would be damned to admit just how tempting fresh blood seemed to him now.
With a grunt of effort, he forced his gaze away from the dead body and instead faced the remaining members of the skeleton manor, " What of you then, dogs, will you all throw your lives away as well? " Han Bei wasn't worried since all of them were nascent cultivators, nothing he couldn't handle but he could do without another fight. His spirit sense passed over and he felt the fear that faintly emanated from all of them. Han Bei snorted and turned around. There was but a single mistake, a miscalculation, that he made and that was the source of their fear. So he missed the moment the ragged cutthroats plastered their bone weapons with talismans and attacked.
